Method of extracting gold



March 22, 1927; L. WARNER 1,621,697

METHOD OF EXTRACTING GOLD Filed Dec. 9, 1923" 8 Sheets-Shegii 1 Ma c221.1927" J, 1.. WARNER METHOD OF EXTRACTING GOLD a Sheets-Sheet 2 March22,1927. 1,621,697

J. L. WARNER I METHOD OF EXTRACTING GOLD Filed "Dec. 1923 8 Sheets-Sheet3 March 22, 1927.

-8 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Dec. 9, 1923 March 22 1927.

J. L, WARNER METHOD OF EXTRACTING .GOLD

Filed Dec. 19, 1923 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. ,1923 8 Sheets-Sheet 6JLfl avw March 22,1921. 1,621,697

J. 'L. WARNER METHOD OF EXTRACTING GOLD Filed Dec. 19, I92: 8shets-sheet 7 J. L. WARNER METHOD OF- EXTRACTING'GOLD March 22, 1927.1,621,697

Filed Dec. 19, 1923 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 ra M10: c /zzu an! WATER TAN/fWAVE! 4!! ma I cur v 5 "Mfr/14w: was-r! MM 4 an r More:

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Ell/I5 fi afizeg: g wm Patented Mar. 22, 1927. p

.UNITESTATES i. PATENT orrics.

JOSEPH LOW REY VFARNER,"OF MAYER ARIZONA.

Application filed December.19,'- 1923; Serial No. 681,551.

This invention relates to amethod of certracting free gold-particlesfrom adobe whereby disintegration of the clay-sand (clay-sand) placerdeposits, the crushed -c-lay-sand tailings of quartz mills and irom iany soft material of mines or deposits, such as oxidized surface ores,clay porphyries and talcosegangue. The adobe material consists of clay,sand, stones and rocks. cemented together more or less and contain--ling. free gold particles distributed through the mass'and associatedwith a heavy min- :eral which isxusually magnetite or black "sand.

i It is: an object'ol the present invention to provide a method wherebythe tree gold can berecovered economically by subjecting thebullrmaterial to successive treatments :.material is effected the clayis carried-off in thQTOIHIO'E a slime, and the free gold,

by separate steps, is separated from the sand and :the slimerespectlvely without requiring: the use of expensive machinery.

With the foregoing and other objects in? view the invention resides incertain steps of the; method hereinafter described and claimed, it beingunderstood that withinthe scope of what is claimed, changes in the pre-.ciscuembodiment of the invention disclosed can. be i made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

ii In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the apparatus usedin carrying out the invention has been shown.

.In said drawings- Figure 1 is a. plan view" of the; apparatus.

i Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof.

Figure 3 is an. elongated vertical transverse section through thedisintegrating mill on line 33, Figure 2.

Figure 41 is a sect-ion on line 4-4, Figure 3; Figure 5 is a sectiononline 5-5, Figure 4. F igure (5 is an enlarged vertical transversesection through the screening mechanism,

said section being taken on the line 6--6, Figure 1.

Figure 7 is an enlarged section through the slime table and cooperatingparts, said sect-ion being taken on the line 77. Fig- -ure 1. c Figure 8is an enlargcd'section on line 88, Figure 7.

Figure 9 is an enlarged section through.

the sluice boxes, taken on line 9-9, Figure 1. Figure 10 is: an enlargedsection on line ltl lP, Figure 9. a

This screen is'adapted to separate the undersized fines 1 from the othermaterial. "The tailings will be deposited on the inclined grizzly l madeup of the parallel rods shown in Figure 2 and discharging its tailingsagainst a. flange 5 which merges into a discharge or delivery spou't 6.i A water supply nozzle 7 is preferably employed for directing a streamof water against the upper portion of the flange 5 so as to washthoroughly the rocks and stones delivered as tailings from the grizzly.This coarse washed material will be delivered from the. spout 6 whilethe material delivered through the grizzly will be collected ina'sluic'e box 8.

I The dividing ofthe material by means of the apparatus thus fardescribed is not merely to facilitate treatment but is eX- tremely vitalto insure properrecovery of the gold. 1 This is due to the fact thatshould the. material not be divided as mentioned, the undersized andoversized material when treated with water would establish a closecohesion. and become a pasty agglomerated mass. This is a species ofhydraulic settling that will clog any rotary screen or the like and willprecipitate and-form acementlike thickness on the bottom. of a sluicebox in a very short time. This property, which is inherent in this classof material, hasbeen the chief dii'liculty heretofore encountered inmethods, making the cost prohibitive 1 because of greatloses of gold.Ithaso-nly been possible to save the heaviest coarse gold partlcles andthe fine and medium weight values have been lost.

The fine screenings delivered to thechute 2 are directed into adisintegratingvat shown'in detaii in Figures 3 and ll This vat includesasuitably supported bottom "plate 9 havingan upstanding circular-outer 7wall extending around and concentric with an inner wall 11. A gasket,preferably of rubber, is fastened between the bottom plate 9 and thewalls 10 and 11 and formed in the bottom plate between the ends of theinner wall 11 is an outlet 12 above and discharging downwardly into adistributing box 13.

Mounted on the structure M on which the bottom plate 9 is secured, is asuperstructure 15 in which is journaled the upper portion of a shaft 16.The lower end of this shaft can be journaled in a bearing 17 supportedby the center of the bottom plate 9. This shaft can be rotated by anydesired means and in the drawings a gear 18 has been shown at the upperend of the shaft in mesh with a gear 19 secured to a drive shaft 20.This drive shaft can be rotated by hand power or by any suitable motor.

Secured to the shaft 16 so as to rotate therewith is a hub 21 havingradial wings to each of which is fastened the inner end of a stirringblade 23. These stirring blades are provided at their lower edges withteeth 2% supported about one inch from the bottom plate 9 and the teethon two of the blades are preferably pitched forwardly in the directionof rotation of the shaft at angles of approximately 45.

The blades are connected by braces 25 and are formed with longitudinalslots 26.

Arranged back of each blade 23 is a conical roller 27 mounted to rotatefreely on an axle 28 and the outer end of each axle is connected by achain 29 or other flexible element to the outer end of the adjacentblade while the inner end of each axle is similarly connected, as at 29,to an intermediate portion of the adjacent blade, the two connections 28and 29 preferably extending within vertical planes converging in thedirection of rotation as shown in Figure 4. As shown in Figure 3,however, it will be noted that these connections oceupy differenttransverse planes. Thus it will be seen that the rollers will rest onthe bottom plate 9 and when the shaft is rotated they will be pulledaround back of the blades but will be capable of moving freely upwardlyand downwardly and also laterally. A water discharge nozzle 80issupported above the bottom plate 9 so as to direct a stream of waterdownwardly into the vat and in the path of the rotating blades.

As before stated this disintegrating vat receives the undersized crudematerial which is delivered by the chute 3. The material when deliveredto the vat is mixed thoroughly with the water discharged from the nozzle30 and as the shaft 16 rotates at a slow speed the mixed material willnot be thrown radially by centrifugal force but will remain where it canbe properly acted on by the movable parts within the vat. The outlet 12is so proportioned that it will retard the discharge of the mixedmaterial so that all parts of the material will be acted on thoroughlybefore being delivered. The discharge will be continuous however and aswater is being constantly admitted to the vat the mixture will bemaintained constantly at a predetermined level. In other words the ratioof the area of the discharge to the capacity of the vat becomes agoverning factor in effecting uniform and rapid mixing of the material.The retarding of the discharge is thus an essential feature of theinvention The water-mixed mass is agitated by the toothed arms and bythe rollers to obtain the dissolution and release of the sand and claycontained in the vat. The harder clay portions are disintegrated by therotary stirring of the toothed blades together with the crushing andsliding action of the rollers. This results in the distortion, in alldirections, of the clay granules so as to render them more quicklypervious to water and thus prevent them from forming into plastic balls.This operation differs entirely from that of any known crushingmachinery or grinding mill, it being understood that it is not theobject of this apparatus to secure abrasion of the material but merelyto obtain water disintegration of the compact plastic mass. It has beenfound in practice that the operation of this disintegrating mechanismwith its stirring, rolling and sliding portions for aiding waterdissolution, actually changes the physical condition of the crudeclay-sand. material so that colloidal, greasy and free particles ofalkali. soil (which, if still in combination with the line material intheir natural state, would offer strong resisting cohesion) arereleased. 7

As hereinbefore stated the water disintegrated material is deliveredfrom the vat through the outlet 12 and into a distributing box 13. Thisbox has downwardly converging front and back walls 31 and 32 forming thebottom thereof. A slime overflow trough 33 is extended laterally fromthe upper portion of one end of this box while extending downwardly fromthe bottom of the box and forwardly therefrom is a sluice 34 preferablydivided longitudinally by a partition 35 to form two or more sluiceways.An outlet 36 is provided in the wall 31 for discharging into eachsluice- *ay, each outlet being provided with a gate 3'? for controllingthe discharge of material to the sluice. Extending longitudinally underthe distributing box 13 is a pipe 38 having a series of nozzles 39opening upwardly through the lowest portion of the bottom of the box.This pipe is in communication with a supply tank 40 located at asuitable elevation so that a sufhcient pressure can be obtained to causeater to discharge upwardly within the box and keep the upper portion ofthe fluid inthe box 13 agitated. It will be apparent, from theforegoing, thatwhen the muddy mixture of water, clay and sand isdischarged from the vat, 9l0

11, the heavier sand will gravitate at points between the nozzles, theconcentration of this sand due to its following the downwardlyconverging walls of the box, serving to express any lighter clayparticles commingled therewith. Furthermore the upward water currentsfrom the nozzles 39 carry the finer clay particles to the surface insuspension so that they will overflow into the slime box as aclay-slime. Thus the material which will be discharged through theoutlets 36 will consist of clean washed sand which, being separated fromthe clay, can be treated by ordinary sluice box methods without theusual losses experienced in the treatment of sand-clay material. Itmight be stated that when the clayparticles are separated from the sandin the manner described the collrudal, greasy and free alkali particlesalso become separated by suspension. and are discharged with the clayinto the slime box. It will be noted that this distributing box not onlyreceives the ma sized screenings and which was discharged into thesluice 8, this sluice opening directly into the box as shown.

The sluice 34 is provided at its upper end with an amalgam plate 41 overwhich the material delivered from the box 13 is discharged to thesluice. This sluice as before pointed out can be divided longitudinallyinto separate sluice-ways and extending transversely of the sluice arerii'l'les 42 each consisting of a length of wood, iron or other suitablematerial having slots 43 extending into the ends thereof for thereception of cars 44 fastened to the side walls of the sluice-ways.These slots do not extend throughout the width of the rililes butproject thcreinto from their lower or front faces so that the pressureof material against the riftles will tend to hold them pressed tightlyonto the ears as will be obvious by referring to Figure 10.

Secured to the front face of each rifiie is one edge portion of a stripof sheet rubber, indicated at 45, this strip being extended under theriflle and having a free longitudinal edge portion projecting back ofthe riffie and forming a retarding apron or flap 46.

Any desirednuniber of riflles can be used and located in the lowerportions of the sluice-ways are transverse gratings 47 preferably ofcast iron and having diamond shaped openings the long diameters of whichare parallel with the sides of the sluice.-

These gratings rest on mats 48 of asbestos which rest on the bottom; ofthe sluice. It is to be understood that the gratings and the mats ofasbestos are removable readily.

that the saving of gold on rill'les or amalgam 7 plates depends on thedifference in the speciiic gravity of the gold and sand particles andthe recovery is dependent largely on whether or not the gold particlesare in rounded grains. If the particles are flat and veryfine, any watercurrent of suflicient velocity to move grains of sand to keep them fromsettling between the ritlles will carry ofl these tine flat particles.The form. of rifl'le herein described has been designed to overcome thisobjection. As the sand and gold flows downwardly within the sluice boxthe flaps 46, which are concaved toward the bottom as shown in Figure10, will cause deflections of the obstructive water current flowingalong the sluice box with the result that gold and heavy minerals willbe deflected downwardly before the particlescan rise over the riffle.Thus the gold is saved by beingdeposited under the flap, some of theheavier mineral iron concentrates being also collected with the gold.These rubbershod rifiles insure tight contacts with the sluice box sothat there is no danger of leak age. As before pointed out the rifliescan be readily removed to give access to the deposits or accuniulations.

By providing the gratings with the as bestos pads thereunder the goldand heavy concentrates passing the ritlies will fall through thegratings and become enmeshed in the fibers of the asbestos. The use ofasbestos is superior to the use of carpet, burlap or other fabricsbecause the asbestos pads can be removed and heated to a hightemperature so as to quickly dry, the temperature being far greater thanthat which could be withstood by ordinary fabrics. After the asbestoshas thus been quickly dried the accumulated values can be brushedtherefrom after which the asbestos can be restored to the sluice box andunder the gratingsin a perfectly clean condition free from colloidal orslimy organic substances.

It is to be understood that sufficient water may be supplied to thesluice box when desired, to lreep the riffles free from bedding sand.The number of sluice-ways used can be varied to meet the requirements.

The slime overflow from the distributing box or sparator 13 sometimescontains sufficient values to justify treatment for the purpose ofrecovering them. For this purpose the slime trough 33 isprovided with aseries of outlet openings 53 each of which has a gate 54 for controllingthe outflow of material. These outlets are adapted to deliver the slimeonto a table 55 which is pivotally mounted at its upper end as shown at56 and has a covering 57 of canvas or other suitable fabric. Thiscovering is preferably of three different meshes, the coarsest meshbeing at the top and the finest at the bottom or forward end of thetable. The forward or movable end of the table can be supported by atransverse rod 58 mounted adjustably in notched standards 59 and aeounterbalancing Weight '60 can be provided for facilitating angularadjustment of the table. This weight is secured to one end of a cable 61niounted on a wheel 62, the other end of the cable being fastened at anysuitable point to the forward end of the table. One or more of thesecounterbalances can be used; A spraying pipe 63 is extended transverselyabove the upper portion of the table 55 and has a series of downwardlydischarging spraying nozzles 64 controlled by valves 65. Spaced ribs 66are extended longitudinally of the table to provide separate passagesalong thecanvas covered top of the table. 7

To the lower end'of the table 55 is hingedly connected a delivery apronor chute 66 having a flexible flap 67 at its free end. Under this chuteis a trough 68 for waste slime and extending parallel with this troughand in front thereof is another trough for receiving gold and ironconcentrates, this second trough being indicated at 69. The slime troughas Well as the trough 69 can empty into vats provided therefor and whichhave been indicated generally at 70 and 71 respectively.

From the foregoing it will be noted that by opening the gates 5esuccessively beginning with the one nearest the sluice34, the

slime can be distributed along the separate passages upon the slimetable, it being designed to close each gate as soon as the slime reachesthe lower end of the passageway into which it has been discharged. Theheaviest particles in suspension will settle on the canvas while thewater and the lighter particles will drain from the table and into thetrough 66 to which said material will he directed by the apron or chute66 which is normally positioned as shown by dotted lines in Figure 7 Thejets of clear Water distributed from the nozzles 64 are turned on afterthe slime has thus been distributed and the 'water thus deliveredcleanses the concentrated fine material such as black sand, associatedwith the gold and enmeshed in the canvas. Furthermore this fresh wateralso washes any remaining light particles into the waste trough orsluice 6S. Thereafter the jets of water are turned off, the table isallowed to drain and the canvas covering is brushed off thoroughly, theapron 66 being first adjusted to the position shown in full lines inFigure 7 so that these sweepings will be directed into the trough 69.The gold and concentrate product thus secured is treated in any of thewell known ways so as to separate all of the gold from the othermaterial recovered.

During this slime treatment process the magnetic sands will show blackagainst the white canvas as the water current spreads the slimes downthe slope of the table. This denotes the right time to wash and sweepthe runways or passages so that the table will not be overloaded. Theaction of the table is not that known as blanket sluicing wherein thegold and heavy concentrates are caught and enmeshed in the fibers ofblankets or the like. Instead the values are permitted to settle in thespaces between the threads of the fabric because of the fact that theflow of the slimes is stopped as soon as the table is covered and theslimes permitted to drain. There is no Washing action such as resultsfrom the use of a continuous current.

The sweeping of the deposits from the table can be effected by the useof an ordinary broom or by suitable power operated brushes.

What is claimed is 1. The herein described method of separating goldfrom clay-sand material which consists in effecting a dry separation ofthe undersized material from the oversized ma terial, crushing andstirring the undersized material in water to release the sand from theclay, washing the oversized material and combining the washings with thetreated undersized material and precipitating the sand from the clayparticles.

2. The herein described method of sepa rating gold from clay-sandmaterial which consists in first effecting a dry separation of theundersized material. from the oversized material, washing the oversizedmaterial and retaining the washings but discarding the washed material,crushing and stirring the undersized material in water to effect thedisintegration and release of sand from clay, combining the treated.material with the washings, and then allowing the sand to set-- tie inan elongated mass, said mass being subjected to transverse compressionfor con densing the precipitated sand thereby to express clay particlesfrom between the sand particles to form a slime.

3. The herein described steps in the method of separating fine gold fromgranular clay-sand material which consists in distorting the granules inwater to effect the suspension and release of clay and sand andsubsequently separating the clay from the sand particles by lateralcompression and floatation thereby to form a slime, delivering the slimein a film upon a porous surface, then permitting the surface to drain,-and subsequently Washing the surface and drying and cleansing it therebyto recover deposited values in the pores thereof.

l. The herein described method of separating fine gold from granularclay-sand material Which consists in first effecting a dry separation ofthe undersized portion from the oversized portion, then distorting thegranules in moving Water to effect the disintegration and release of theclay and sand of the undersized portion, combining the separated clayand sand With washings from the oversized portion, thereafter separatingthe sand from the clay and other light particles by suspension to form aslime, then spreading the slime, draining it, and finally recoveringvalues precipitated from the drained slime.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afiixedmy signature.

JOSEPH LOlVREY WARNER.

